Do you ever feel like a schemer and a manipulator when playing the field?

[Emissary]

So I was pretty interested in seeing this one girl who until recently worked with me before getting transferred to another location in town. I was just about ready to make a move before the transfer, kind of put a damper in my plans. We have a mutual friend who works both locations, and she kind of acted as a go-between for us, eventually she decided to act as my wingman and try and get the three of us together for coffee to give me a chance to bridge the gap and start seeing her on my own.

 

She agreed to the coffee, but bailed the day off, left town for the day. It hurt my feelings a tad, and I gave up for a little bit, but eventually I felt like just talking to her myself. So I found her number and started texting her. It felt like I was really gaining a lot of ground at first, we became a lot more open about everything, it went really well and there was a good vibe going on. I even suggested we could try for round two on the coffee sometime, to which she gave me a vague "us maybe". I left it at that and haven't pushed the issue since.

 

She texted me back the next day, asking how my day was, that was good progress to me, shows she at least cares about me to some degree. After that though, our text convos became increasingly brief, she just doesn't reply most of the time, the conversation just goes dead randomly. I decided to just give her space and not text her unless she texts me. We haven't spoken since Wednesday, though our mutual friend assures me she still really likes me, just she's very uncertain. I really just get the impression that winning her over is going to be like pulling teeth.

 

I had one text conversation with the mutual friend, basically saying that if it really is just friendship the girl wants, then neither of us are going to get what we want, that if she rejects me, that I would politely have nothing to do with her. I made that clear enough. She's in regular face to face contact with the girl, she says she's always asking about me and what I've been up to. I know that what I've said is going to show on her face to an extent, something is amiss.

 

I've also been building up with another interest at the same time, and it's just come to fruition, we're going to be going on a date sometime in the middle of the week most likely. I'll make sure the mutual friend knows this. I know she's going to blab, the girl is going to find out. It will perhaps sting her to know that one moment I'm practically at her feet, the next I'm seeing somebody else, that she wasn't anything to me in the end. She's got esteem issues and has admitted to having difficulty meeting people, it's got to get to her. Her indecision, she was too late, I gave up.

 

Women take pride in holding the feelings of other men, to many they almost become possessions of sorts, take that away from them and they will become possessive of it. If I were to become single again, she would perhaps be more serious about me. I'll make sure to stay in touch with her, so she can catch little snippets of everything.

 

On paper it sounds solid, but who knows it will really play out anything like that, but it's worth a try. It scares me a little though, even if it doesn't work, this is a girl I care about, and I find myself totally willing to hurt her feelings if it benefits me in the end. Though, I'm not using the other girl for this purpose, i do care about her as well and fully intend to take our potential relationship seriously, I may never be single again.